Events

Department celebrates diversity of students, faculty

Students, staff and faculty in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences come from a wide range of cultures, from all over the world. To celebrate the strength we find in our diversity, the department for several years has placed an evergreen tree in the lobby of the Plant and Environmental Sciences building amid the year-end holidays, and invites everyone to bring a symbol of their own heritage to hang on the tree.

Great staff hear “thank you” from department leaders

Staff and faculty in the Department of Plant Sciences took time to socialize over coffee and celebrate several colleagues who have reached milestones in their employment with the University of California.

“It takes a team to be the No. 1 in the world for plant sciences, and here we honor the long service of our colleagues and staff,” said Gail Taylor, professor and department chair. “Last year, they helped us to submit 250 grant proposals, to win $35 million in external research funding and to run a world-beating stable isotope service.”

The ‘Weed Doctor’ is in: Picnic Day includes tomato, strawberry give-aways

Get free tomato and strawberry transplants and fresh popcorn, and have an expert identify your weeds, at the Department of Plant Sciences during UC Davis’ Picnic Day celebration, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 23. Come to the courtyard on the courtyard side of the department’s main building. It’s a block west of the Memorial Union, on North Quad between Howard Way and California Avenue.

Biodiversity Museum Day

Pet a pine cone at Biodiversity Museum Day March 6

Visit a pine cone petting zoo and craft a pressed-flower bookmark during UC Davis’ 11th annual Biodiversity Museum Day. Children and the young-at-heart will enjoy hands-on activities that bring science to life from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 6, at the UC Davis Conference Center, across from the Robert Mondavi Center.

UCCE Sutter-Yuba-Colusa Continuing Education Seminars: Sept-Oct 2020

University of California Cooperative Extension Sutter-Yuba-Colusa is holding a series of webinars in September and October to provide research updates on some of the major crops in the Sacramento Valley. The classes are relevant to growers throughout California and are primarily focused on pest management and pesticide safety. 

Picnic Day Plants Find New Homes in the Community

Over 6,000 tomato and strawberry plants, destined as a Picnic Day give-away, are finding new homes following cancellation of Picnic Day, due to COVID-19. Saarah Kuzay, a Ph.D. student in Plant Sciences, is working with other students to find food banks, community gardens, and campus students for plant distribution. Plant give-aways from Plant Sciences are a popular feature each year at UC Davis Picnic Day.

Ninth Annual UC Davis Plant Science Symposium, May 6, 2020

The 2020 Plant Science Symposium at UC Davis will be held on May 6, and will be online through Zoom. This student-run symposium is built to stimulate discussions about the future of agriculture. It includes speakers and attendees from both academia and industry, and the public and private sectors. Hosted by the Plant Breeding Center and the Department of Plant Sciences.

Hemp Breeding and Seed Production Course — October 27–28, 2020

Registration is open for the Seed Biotechnology Center’s second annual “Hemp Breeding and Seed Production” course, October 27–28, 2020 at UC Davis. The course is for professionals working on hemp improvement and propagation. Instructors include experts from the public and private sectors. The debut course in 2019 generated great interest from multiple countries.